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Uncategorized Thursday, June 30th 2011 at 10:47 am

Man Turns in Found Bank Bag Containing $17,000, Gets Fined $500

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Earlier this month, Robert Adams, 54, found a Chase Bank bag that contained $17,000 near a Walgreens ATM. Being the nice guy that he is, he drove over to a Chase Bank and turned the bag in, rather than make it his partner on a spending spree. Instead of a hero’s welcome for being honest and turning in the found $17,000, he ended up being fined $500.

When Adams initially turned in the bank bag, he claimed he found the bag outside a newspaper stand in Rolling Meadows, when in actuality, he found the bank bag near a Walgreens ATM in Midlothian, which police confirmed via security footage. It’s alright if you cannot locate Rolling Meadows or Midlothian — the point is that Adams technically lied about where he found the bag and thus, filed a false report, which is why he ended up being fined for turning in a load of found money. Adams claimed he lied about where he found the bag simply because it was a hot day and he just wanted to go home and he felt more comfortable filing the report with Rolling Meadows police. “I wasn’t looking for a reward. I was just doing the right thing,” he said, and now probably knows to just take the next bank bag he finds that is stuffed to the brim with cash for himself instead of turn it in.

(Chicago Tribune via reddit)

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  • Citizen

    What a bunch of assholes. I’m willing to bet, however, with this story getting attention, the fine will be waived.

  • http://twitter.com/Gauldar Rob

    He could have been honest about being lazy instead of misdirecting police to a false location, which could have ruined their investigation into the matter.  He had just returned $17K, so I’m sure the bank would have been accommodating to his exhaustion.

  • http://twitter.com/CharlesCarroll Chuck Carroll

    Hopefully the bank will step up and reimburse the fine, otherwise this is encouragement for finders of their lost money to just not tell them about it.   When I was a kid I found a money belt in a motel parking lot – don’t recall getting a reward (my mom turned it in) and some years ago I found a $50 bill on the ground of a gas station – I turned it in to the cashiers but regretted it, my thinking had been whomever dropped it might come back to ask about ‘lost and found’, but I bet they kept it.  At Street Vibrations in Reno a few years ago (a big motorcycle event that people travel to) my wife and I found a small luggage bag on the back of a Harley with a huge wad of cash rolled up and visible – likely from when the riders had pulled cash to pay for breakfast (were at a casino that basically was only used for a discounted breakfast to attendees).  We turned it in but being a casino we knew there were no shortages of cameras and were confident the staff would handle the cash properly.

  • Anonymous

    Why are they assholes? Whatever his reasoning, he made a false report to the police, which carries a fine.

  • Citizen

    Because it’s simply unnecessary. This discourages ‘doing the right thing’, needlessly. Zero tolerance is stupid. Law enforcement waives fines and penalties all the time, often for greater offenses than being lazy.

  • Lol

    bwahahahah moralfag

  • Anonymous

    With all do respect, lying to the police seems like a pretty serious offense, especially when it interferes with an investigation. And how does this discourage doing the right thing? I mean, I’ll grant that if you take the article’s title at face value it does, but not if you read the story. He didn’t get punished for returning the money, he got punished for lying to the police. I would argue that most people who are willing to do the right thing and return this kind of money are not also going to lie about where they found it. Even Adams (in another article) admits he made a mistake in not telling the truth:
    “I feel very badly and understand why I should have told the truth. I accept the fine. I’m very sorry about this whole thing.”

  • http://twitter.com/wonkydonky wonky donky.

    Kops are such dumb f***s, aren’t they?

    If this fine is the reward for ultimately doing the right thing, where the good Massively outweighs the bad; -next time, just keep the cash and let the bank’s insurance policy cover the loss.

  • baorlk

    Yeah, but then the police would probably take the money, and then ask him to take a drive with them to the other county’s police dept, and fill out a bunch of stupid paperwork. The guy was tired, he returned a bag of money, and he gets punished for it. The police act as if his “misinformation” would hinder their investigation, as if the police would have had a BETTER clue if he’d just taken the money and never showed up with it. 

  • gonzopelt

    damn straight. What a disincentive to do the “right thing” by fining him like that. The dude was tired. The cops should be grateful he even brought their ass the money to begin with.  The dude knew if he told them he found the money in a different county, they’d probably tell him to accompany them on a ride over there, and fill out the paperwork in that jurisdiction. What does the guy get? Zilch for his efforts. He wanted nothing but to go home. People say, “It’s wrong to lie to cops” or “It’s wrong to take a bag of cash.” But maybe I’m ethically challenged, but if there is no victim, then I don’t see how wrong it could be. Besides, cops lie all the time, in order to cajole people into
    giving away their rights.

  • Citizen

    Ultimately, no harm was done. Which is why I think this is one of those (many) instances where the penalty should be waived. Nobody disputes that he broke the law by ‘misrepresenting truth’, but his good deed outweighs his bad deed – the authorities should acknowledge that, but they’re just going by the book. Assholes might be too strong a word – drones might be more appropriate.

    No doubt someone is going to have a problem with the authority not going strictly by the law, no matter how righteous their intentions may be. After all, justice is supposed to be ‘blind’. I just think in the big picture, it’s bullshit.

  • Saraaxoxo

    Really?! You’re going to ask why their assholes? They gave him a FINE for turning in 17,000 when he could have EASILY kept it for himself. I wouldn’t have given him a fine. I would have told him great job for turning the money in and being a good citizen because nobody else would have turned it in. They should have THANKED him. And you wanna know why their assholes. Idiot.

  • Anonymous

    Due to your emotional rather than reasoned response, and you apparent inability to synthesize the discussion between @ac0ae71243e238503c4f6754a0eb3702:disqus and myself to satisfy your apparent anger at me, I’ll break down your comment and my response on a point by point basis so you can understand where I’m coming from. If it’s still too complicated, let me know and I’ll try to draw a picture for you.

    1.”They gave him a FINE for turning in 17,000…”
    -Not true, they fined him for making a false report to the police.

    2.”…when he could have EASILY kept it for himself.”
    -Maybe, maybe not, if you’ll refer to the article above, they found him on surveillance tape picking it up at a different location than the one he stated he picked it up from. So after the money was reported missing, they would have checked these cameras and seen him taking it.

    3.”I wouldn’t have given him a fine. I would have told him great job for
    turning the money in and being a good citizen because nobody else would
    have turned it in. They should have THANKED him”
    -I’m sure they did thank him, probably quite a bit. At least, until they realized he was lying.

    I agree with Citizen that ultimately no harm was done, I agree that there could have been some discretion shown by the PD here. But I don’t agree that it’s so outrageous to get fined for lying to the police that anyone who says otherwise is an idiot. Besides, filing a false report is a prosecutable measure in most places (although only a misdemeanor in some), so it may be they showed some leniency in fining him and not throwing the book at him. That being said, I’m not familiar with the laws of Rolling Meadows, so I can’t say one way or the other if that’s the case here.

  • Anonymous

    If it had been me and I had a moment of weakness and started home, sense would hopefully return to me before I got too far.  Returning it to any police station should be ok, but then I have to answer the question of why it took me so long and so far to turn it in.  I may alter the story so that it doesn’t seem like I entertained the idea of keeping it.  He did the right thing in the end, fine him for lying and stay the fine for a certain period of time.

  • http://twitter.com/Drackir Drackir

    If the bank is looking for any kind of positive PR then $400 is a pretty cheap pay off for them to make.

  • Anonymous

    tinyurl.com/2df4ccp

  • Paulybirdsanford

    Just knowing that this has happened I will never return lost money and I have in the past and normally would have. This is just another case of corrupt politics in the justice system.

  • Anonymous

    I wouldn’t recommend keeping it: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-talk-found-money-20110701,0,4100058.story

    Summary of the link: After becoming suspicious of his story, the FBI reviewed tape and found him taking the money from the Wal-Mart location. They then called him in for an interview, during which he admits to lying about where he found it. Turns out he was driving home with it when he realized he had probably been caught on camera and immediately turned it in to the nearest Chase.

    Long story short, if he hadn’t turned it in, he would likely have been caught. If he had turned it in at the location he found it, he would not have been fined $500. He did the right thing in the end, but he lied about it because he wasn’t necessarily doing the right thing from the start.

  • Lowell_bean

    you’re the reason this country is so screwed up, or at least people like you.

  • Anonymous

    That’s a pretty strong claim. What, specifically, is it about me that’s so detrimental to our society?

  • emily

    he should get  the money he found it thats the law also!

  • Billy_m

    you know why he lied about where he found it cos there wa probably a lot more than 17,000 in the bag when he found it lool if he had any brains hw would pf kept the whole lot

  • http://www.facebook.com/david.goff1 David Goff

    The moral of the story is, he should have kept it!

  • http://twitter.com/inscamerated ΔИθᴎЎϻɸᵿƧ

    I was gonna say before I started reading, next time, take it and spend it, but Plafke beat me to it lol